PEARL'S EYE VIEW (THE LIFE OF DICKEY CHAPELLE)
Nanci Griffith / Maura Kennedyc Cherry River Music Co./Cherry Log Music/Irving Music, Inc./Ponder Heart Music (BMI)
Worldwide Rights for Cherry Log Music administered by Cherry River Music Co. (BMI)
All Rights Reserved Used by Permission

Oh she was high up there in the air
Caught still by a soldier's stare
Whenever it was men amongst men
Down upon the land
And she followed those mother's sons
She felt the thunder of their guns
From a pearl's eye view, just a camera in her hand
She was born Georgette but the name
Didn't suit her well
So, she blew out of Wisconsin as Dickey Chapelle

Oh, she flew with a pilot's pride
The first witness to either side
She carried relief to the lost ones
Between the bombs
And we saw it all through her lens
She knew she'd go back again
When the call rang out once more from Vietnam
She's been through this before,
She'll tell ya war is hell
Her pearl earrings caught the light
On Dickey Chapelle

Oh, that's the way it was
She was the only one to tell
In 1962,
She blew the whistle loud and clear
Now we trace her wings
In her footsteps without fear
To the front lines where she fell
Where she lies still
But she's still there

It was 1965,
Over Chu Lai in a free fall dive
In a dawn patrol to cover the dead zone ground
She tiptoed through the land mines
All along the enemy lines
But she never saw the one that took her down
She captured the bloody pearls of war so well
That war was bound to steal the end of Dickey Chapelle

"Dickey Chapelle was born Georgette Meyer in Shorewood, Wisconsin. Chapelle covered the Second World War in Iwo Jima and Okinawa and became known for her coverage of major wars for Life, Look, and National Geographic. In 1965, while covering the Vietnam conflict, Chapelle was killed by a landmine. She was the first female correspondent killed in action."
Text & Photos from Wisconsin Historical Society.

Henri Huet's poignant photograph of Chapelle receiving the last rites in Vietnam.